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By JD
Published 3 hours ago, updated at 2:28 p.m.
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The 76-year-old businesswoman is in fact married to Vince McMahon, the heir to WWE, an American wrestling empire founded in the 1950s, which she managed between 1997 and 2009. She had faced his daughter on the ring in 2000.
Roars echo through the packed arena, dotted with brightly colored signs reading «Linda, we got you» (“Linda, we are with you, Editor’s note”). The said Linda puts her ringed hands to her mouth, falsely frightened. The fifty-year-old, dressed in an impeccable suit, has just delivered a resounding slap live in a wrestling ring to a young brunette woman, who stands up disheveled, with a murderous look on her face.
«How could she do that to her own daughter ?» (“How could she do this to her daughter?”Editor’s note) shouts the presenter. In the seconds following this slap, Linda grabs a muscular wrestler who was standing near her. The fifty-year-old tried in vain to put him on the ground, before fleeing the ring, to the shouts of the public.
In this video published on the Youtube channel FullWithDivasdated April 17, 2000, the brunette woman on the ground is Stephanie McMahon, professional wrestler. And the one who gave him a slap (skillfully orchestrated, according to the rules of wrestling) is none other than his mother Linda McMahon, who was appointed on November 20, 2024 – i.e. 24 years after this epic fight -, Minister of National education in the United States by President Donald Trump.
“Phenomenal leader”
With her husband Vince, the septuagenarian actually founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) more than 30 years ago, the queen company in terms of organizing wrestling matches. She had even participated several times in fights in the ring which pitted her against her daughter, but also against her husband. She became president in 1993 and general director in 1997, before resigning in 2009 to try her luck in politics under the Republican banner. After a first failure in the senatorial elections in 2010, she had worked hard to forget her image as a former boss of the WWE, presenting herself under the image of a model wife, close to the concerns of the American middle class, only to be beaten again in 2012. During the 2016 presidential primaries, she first supported Chris Christie before lining up behind Donald Trump, whose campaign she had supported to the tune of several million dollars.
“She helped grow WWE from a small department of 13 people to an international company with more than 800 employees, with offices around the world.”Donald Trump finally declared in 2016, when he had just appointed her to the position of manager of the Small Business Administration. And to continue in laudatory terms: “Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small business, she will uninhibit the entrepreneurial spirit across the country.”
Battle of the Billionaires
Donald Trump has long-standing ties with the McMahon couple. In 1988 and 1989, the WrestleMania tournaments (annual wrestling events organized by the WWE) took place in Trump Plaza, one of the hotels owned by the president-elect in Atlantic City. In 2007, Donald Trump and Vince McMahon had even clashed by wrestlers interposed during the “Battle of the Billionaires”.
Donald Trump’s champion had won, allowing the future American president to shave McMahon’s head in the ring. An epic fight which earned Donald Trump entry into the WWE Hall of Famethe wrestling pantheon. The couple, however, did not seem to hold it against him since they donated $5 million to the Donald J. Trump Foundation in 2007.
How can Linda McMahon’s leadership skills from WWE translate to effective educational policy-making as Secretary of Education?
1. How did Linda McMahon’s experience as the former CEO of WWE prepare her for her role as the U.S. Secretary of Education?
2. Do you believe that her past involvement in professional wrestling, including physically participating in matches, could potentially impact her credibility or effectiveness in this new role?
